P-I archive: What led to Space Needle in Seattle

Talk of World's Fair started in 1950

BY CASEY MCNERTHNEY, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
| on June 16, 2011

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A 1950 drawing of what was proposed for what's now Seattle Center. The same day this drawing ran in the P-I, Jan. 8, 1950, the P-I ran the first article about the potential for a Seattle-area world's fair.

A 1950 drawing of what was proposed for what's now Seattle Center. The same day this drawing ran in the P-I, Jan. 8, 1950, the P-I ran the first article about the potential for a Seattle-area world's fair. (seattlepi.com file)

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The Feb. 4, 1955 P-I article about what would become the World Fair Commission. (seattlepi.com file)

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City planners in 1950 called this section of the city a "blighted area." It's now Seattle Center, which was home to the 1962 World's fair. (seattlepi.com file)

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City planners in 1950 called this section of the city a "blighted area." It's now Seattle Center, which was home to the 1962 World's fair. (seattlepi.com file)

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The 1961 photo caption read: The first two of six supporting columns for the World's Fair Space Needle are shown being connected to the needle's center core, 100 feet from the base. The 50-ton legs are 90 feet

The 1961 photo caption read: The first two of six supporting columns for the World's Fair Space Needle are shown being connected to the needle's center core, 100 feet from the base. The 50-ton legs are 90 feet long and are connected to the core by 30-foot crossbars. The Spce Needle will rise 600 feet and will feature a revolving restaurant at the top. (seattlepi.com file)

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Space Needle construction, 1961. (seattlepi.com file)

A good deal of attention was given to the Space Needle this past Sunday – the 50th anniversary of the iconic landmark's groundbreaking.

But when did plans for the 1962 World's Fair start?

The P-I's first mention of planning for a fair came in a one-paragraph brief on Jan. 8, 1950. The article was in a special section on planning for Seattle's future – one that included making a conservatory where the Space Needle now stands and a planetarium where KeyArena is now. (Click here to see a photo of what the area looked like in 1950.)

"Plans for a world fair, first in the Seattle area since 1909, are being made by the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce, composed of chambers from Renton, Kent, Auburn and the Highline area," the brief read. "The Seattle chamber has been kept informed of the plans and if they come to completion will be fully supported by the latter group, its officers say."

But nothing more was written until Feb. 1955 when a bill in the state Senate, offered by Sen. William Goodloe of Seattle, would have created a seven-member fair commission to plan for a fair. The idea was to have it in 1959, the 50th anniversary of the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition.

Days later, the Seattle City Council unanimously adopted a memorial to the Legislature supporting a bill calling for a 1959 World's Fair in Seattle.

In March 1956 the World Fair Commission surveyed possible sites for the proposed fair. Eddie Carlson, the man who made the first sketch of the Space Needle, was chairman of the commission. One of the local business leaders who spearheaded the efforts, he was executive vice president of the Western Hotels chain.

One of the proposals was to enlarge what's now the Seattle Center area. Later in 1956, the commission recommended a two-year Festival of the West to be held between July and Oct. 1960 and '61.

In June 1957, there was talk of the highway improvements delaying the 1960 opening.

The following month, the state planned to be at least six city blocks covering what's now the Seattle Center area, which was initially expected to be 90 acres, according to archived P-I accounts. The campus is now 74 acres, shortened in part because Sacred Heart Catholic Church and other buildings were saved by court proceedings.

In 1958, Seattle Mayor Gordon Clinton sent a letter to President Dwight Eisenhower for official recognition and support for a 1961 fair. At the time, the plan was to mark the centennial of the final establishment of the U.S.-Canadian border and $15 million already had been allocated by the state and city.

The fair's official name, the Century 21 Exposition, came in July 1958 and was originated by Seattle advertising man Gerald Hoeck, according to P-I stories. Formerly adopted July 22, 1958, it replaced the previous proposed name: the World Science Pan Pacific Exposition.

An initial planned opening date was May 10, 1961 and the fair was to run until Oct. 10, 1962.

In late Sept. 1959, Eisenhower approved $9 million in federal funs for the fair, but days later the opening date was moved to spring 1962 because planners needed more time.

On Oct. 19, 1959 the fair dates were set: April 21 to Oct. 21, 1962. Some wanted it to hold over until the following year, but other said that would have drawn from plans for a 1964 world's fair elsewhere.

The idea of the World's Fair and the Space Needle was popular with many Seattleites, but funding initially was difficult. In fall 1960, less than two years before the fair opened, no site for the Space Needle had been selected.

There was talk of putting it where a nearby Nile Temple stood. But engineers found that a storm drain was 75 feet underground and wouldn't allow a good foundation for the 605-foot Space Needle, according to Robert Spector's work, "The Space Needle: Symbol of Seattle."

By Jan. 1, 1961, city leaders still weren't exactly sure where the Space Needle would go.